


9096

by lovelysnoopy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Black Hermione, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hermione is the true voice of reason, I'll add more tags later, Neville and Luna and Ginny are all bffs, South Indian / White mixed Harry, Taiwanese Luna, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-22 09:16:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6073687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovelysnoopy/pseuds/lovelysnoopy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>About 9,096 stars are visible in the entire sky, including both hemispheres. But Ginny swears she can see more in Luna's eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First fic woo!! I'm sorry that the beginning is a bit cheesy and choppy, it's very hard for me to start stories off, but once I get the ball rolling it comes a lot more naturally. This fic is loosely cannon (it's been a while since I've read the books) and it starts off in Order of the Phoenix. Anyways, enjoy!

Luna had few friends, but those she had she cherished. She didn’t speak of it often, but her friends meant everything to her. Spending most of her childhood and her first few years at Hogwarts with the only person close to her being her father was quite lonely, anyone would agree. As a child, it was her Taiwanese roots that othered her. In Hogwarts, it was her odd habits she picked up from her father. By her second year she was quite used to the nickname ‘Loony Lovegood’ that kids would sneer and cackle at her, but Ginny, one of her classmates, wasn’t as passive. She was a firey girl, you know— very headstrong and righteous, as are most Gryffindors. Ginny and Luna had never even exchanged a single word before, yet here she was, pushing in front of Luna and shouting at Ernie Macmillan to “Stop calling her that! Leave her alone!” 

As it remained for the next few years, she stayed close to Ginny, and eventually Neville Longbottom as well. The three of them were close, Luna and Neville being the slight odd ones out and Ginny being the one who stood up for them; they were their own little trio. And when Luna’s friend group expanded even more— entering Hermione, Ron, and Harry— she was, to say the least, elated. Yes, they didn’t seem to exactly warm up to her immediately, but they were kind to her regardless. 

————————

“How’s someone like her even allowed in the D.A.?” Justin Finch-Fletchly scoffed, purposefully louder than needed. No names were needed to be said, everyone knew who he was referring to. “Next thing you know she’ll be telling everyone that Umbridge is secretly some swamp frog from Brazil.”

“Honestly, that’s the only thing she’d ever say that I’d believe.” Hannah Abbott added with a laugh. 

“I’ve had just enough of that noggles ridiculousness she spouts, honestly—”

Luna didn’t bother to turn to look at them, she just continued to practice the spell she’d been given. The two’s murmers continued until swift, heavy footsteps halted in front of them.

“How about the both of you shut up? Hm? And it’s nargles, by the way.” 

Luna looked over her shoulder to see Ginny, cheeks slightly tinged red in anger, hands on her hips, frowning at the two Hufflepuffs. 

“I don’t care what they’re called, they’re not even real, just some idiocy she spews.” Justin sneered.

“You better shut your mouth if you know what’s good for you.” She pointed a finger at him threateningly, her eyes narrowing and her other hand reaching for her wand.

Both of them stopped their conversation of Luna, turning and swiftly walking away, preferring to murmur about how annoying Gryffindors could be.

“Thank you, you didn’t have to.”

Ginny turned to see Luna smiling at her, and the angry redness on her cheeks faded away as she smiled back.

“You’re welcome, and I did.” 

“I don’t really mind them, I’m very used to this.”

“You say that every time.” Ginny sighed softly, walking over to Luna. 

“Because it’s true; after a while you learn to deal with and accept these things, because they won’t change, as much as you want it to.”

“Well too bad, because I’m gonna force them to change.”

Ginny laughed, and Luna thought she could see the stars in her eyes. 

———————

“I’d be careful with that, Neville. Fanged Geranium tends to attract wrackspurts.”

“Oh—” Neville looked down at the pot next to him. “Thanks, Luna. I’ll keep that in mind.” 

“Hey Luna, hey Neville.” Ginny greeted, plopping her bag on the table and pulling out a seat for herself. “I thought plants weren’t allowed in the library.”

Neville shrugged. “Dunno, Madam Pince always seems to look away whenever I bring one in.” 

“Anyway,” Ginny turned to Luna expectantly. “Do you have the notes from Muggle Studies? I totally dozed off and missed half of it.” 

“Of course,” Luna leaned over and opened her bag, taking out the notes and handing them to Ginny. 

“Thank you so-so-so much! You’re a life saver, Luna.” 

Luna’s heart tugged a bit at the smile Ginny gave her, and she nodded, suddenly shy. 

“Honestly, the only reason I took that class was for my dad. I’ve told you about that bloody car he enchanted, didn’t I? The one that Ron wrecked in our first year. I wonder when Dad will realise that muggles aren’t actually that interesting.”

Although Luna disagreed (she found muggles very fascinating), she just smiled and nodded, letting Ginny carry on about how much Muggle Studies bored her and how she’d rather have a double period of Transfiguration. Ginny’s ramblings were one of Luna’s favourite things about her, seeing her eyes light up with passion and her mouth just running and running and running… it reminded her of her mother, actually.

“…And honestly, I think that the Proffessor’s voice just puts me to sleep. Even if I wanted to stay awake I’d— Oh no, Madam Pince is glaring at me, I think I’d better go.” Ginny fumbled with her things, shoving the Luna’s notes into her bag and abruptly standing up. “I’ll see you two later, good night!” 

Luna watched her scurry out of the library until she was out of sight. 

“You were doing it again.”

“Doing what?” Luna turned back to Neville.

“Staring at her with that little smile of yours.” He gave her a knowing look, before glancing back down at his homework and softly stroking the potted Fanged Geranium, which gave a shudder of appreciation. 

“I don’t understand what you mean, Neville.” 

“You stare at her with this look of wonder and awe; honestly it’s kinda cute.” He chuckled, dipping his quill in more ink and continuing to write. “You should be able to figure out what that means.” 

Luna didn’t know what to say. She always knew what to say, and she was always calm as she said it. But in this moment, no words came out and she certainly wasn't feeling calm. Slightly anxious better described it. 

“It— it must be the wrackspurts.” She mumbled, gathering her things and quickly leaving, a small “Good night, Neville” thrown over her shoulder. Neville watched her leave with a small smile on his face. He had seen her cheeks turn pink.

——————

Since Luna didn’t share the same House as Ginny and Neville, they couldn’t spend time together in their common rooms. Luna spent ample amounts of time with Neville in the library, studying and idly discussing things such as pungous onions or gulping plimplys. Ginny had other friends, being a very popular Gryffindor, and she really only joined them in the library when exams were near. Luna didn’t know if it was because they were now older and cared more about their grades, or perhaps there was a test she didn’t know about, but Ginny spent a lot more time in the library with them now.

“Where’s Neville?” Ginny asked, sitting down next to Luna at their usual table.

“Studying for Transfiguration,” Luna replied, handing Ginny her notes from Muggle Studies. “He joined a study group with some other fifth years for it.”

“Oh, okay. And thanks,” she held up the notes and grinned. “You know me too well.”

Luna smiled and continued to write out her potions essay. Ginny sat close to her, their arms and knees touching. Luna could feel her tapping her foot and cracking her knuckles. She could hear her sighing. She never took notice to such small details before, but suddenly it was all at the forefront of her mind, all she could focus on. Ginny was always a physical person, often hugging Luna or playing with her hair; but for some odd reason, Luna was hyper-aware of it all now, as well as the odd feeling of— perhaps buzzing?— in her stomach. What Neville had said before, _‘you should be able to figure out what that means’_ played in her head. Looking down at her paper, she realised the last sentence she wrote made absolutely no sense, and she scratched it out before giving up on concentrating.

“Are you tired?”

Luna looked over at Ginny, who had a sort of empathetic look in her eyes. 

“Slightly, why?” 

“You’ve written the same sentence three times and each time you’ve misspelled ‘nasturtium’.”

Luna looked back to her essay to see that indeed, Ginny was right. But she was wrong that it was fatigue that caused it. 

“No, I’m not tired.” She said carefully, thinking of what to say as an excuse. “Just a bit distracted, I guess. Perhaps its the wrackspurts.” 

Ginny took a minute to study her face before mumbling, “Yeah, wrackspurts.” and turning back to copying her notes. 

Luna could feel her ears turn pink, the warmth spreading onto her cheeks. She wasn’t sure of it, but she thought she could see the tips of Ginny’s ears turn pink too.

—————

A night of light homework was rare, especially with holidays coming up in the next month. Teachers would try and fit in all the content they were supposed to complete already into the last two weeks, so there was usually homework every night and a test every two or three days. But tonight there was none, and Ginny was more than content. There was, for one, no Muggle Studies notes she needed to copy. That was always a cause to celebrate. She flopped down onto the couch next to Hermione and Ron, causing Hermione’s pile of notes to flutter. Hermione frantically smacked her hand down to keep them steady, and Ginny muttered a small apology. 

“Stressed out?” She asked, eyeing the pile in between them and the large, worn out textbook in her lap.

“Just a bit…” Hermione mumbled breathlessly. Her eyes quickly skimmed the page of text and she leaned over to scribble on one of the pieces of parchment next to her. “With all my classes plus the D.A. I just have no time to study!” She sighed exasperatedly, throwing her hands down and leaning back against the cushions. 

Ginny leaned forward to look at Ron on the other side of Hermione. He had a smaller, less worn out textbook on the lap, but rather than study it he opted to doodle little stick figures along the edges of the pages. Ginny rolled her eyes and sat back again.

“No homework for you?” Hermione turned to Ginny, seeming to have decided a short break would be beneficial.

“Nah, not today. We had this god awful quiz in Muggle Studies, so at least I don’t have to copy Luna’s notes again.” 

Hermione had long stopped trying to admonish Ginny (and rather all the Weasleys, Harry included) for copying notes. Instead she asked, “How is Luna? You’ve been spending a lot more time with her lately.” 

Ginny felt a strange feeling, like something lightly pressing against the inside of her chest, just under her collarbones, in an oddly nice kind of way. “She’s well. Saved me from failing Muggle Studies, Dad would about have my head if it weren’t for her.” She chuckled, and Hermione smiled.

“That’s good.” 

They fell silent for a moment. Ginny followed Hermione’s gaze out the window, the sun getting lower in the sky, but not quite setting yet. 

“I wish I could go walk by the lake.” She half whispered, enchanted by the bright orange sky. “Oh, but all these notes!” And there was the normal Hermione again, hunching forward and scribbling annotations along the margins of her textbook. Ginny gave a small breath of a chuckle and stood up. Hermione was right— a walk by the lake would be nice. 

The walk out of the castle was quiet. Most students preferred to stay inside, in fear of doing something wrong and being punished. With Umbridge in charge, there were so many new school rules that rather than trying to remember them all it was safer to just not do anything at all. Ginny, however, didn’t care so much. As long as she was back in the Gryffindor common room before dark then she should be fine. As long as she doesn’t run into Filch. 

The lake was quiet and serene like usual, the sun, which had lowered in the sky since Ginny had made the trek out of the castle, casting a warm orange and pink blanket across the water. As she neared the water’s edge, she noticed a figure standing barefoot in the sand. Long blonde hair, black and blue robes casted aside about five feet behind. Ginny’s heart seemed to fill with a giddiness she couldn’t describe when she realised it was— “Luna!” 

Luna turned around and smiled softly. Her eyes, however, showed more glee than her smiles allowed, and Ginny could feel the corners of her mouth turn up in return as she all but ran to her friend. 

“Hello, Ginny. Did you come to watch the sunset as well?”

“Yeah, I didn’t expect to see anyone else here, though.”

“It’s alright. I’ll leave you alone, enjoy the sunset—”

“Hey!” Ginny’s eyes blew wide as she lunged forward to grab onto a retreating Luna. She was going to leave, just like that? “Where are you going?”

“You came here expecting to be alone, I wouldn’t want to spoil—”

“You’re not spoiling anything!” She interrupted her again, sliding her hand down Luna’s wrist and into her hand, pulling her back to her side. “I just didn’t expect to have company, not that I don’t want company.” 

“Oh,” was Luna’s only response. Her soft smile hadn’t faltered once since Ginny arrived, and that worried her. Was Luna so used to not being wanted? Was her first reaction to always leave when someone arrives? And why, Ginny wonder the most, why did she smile through it all?

“You’re my friend, Luna. Of course I want to spend time with you.” Ginny let out a small chuckle to lighten the mood. 

After a moment of hesitation, Luna replied, “We’re friends, yes. Yes, we’re friends.” The repetition seemed to let it sink in, and her shoulders relaxed. Ginny didn’t even realise they were tense to begin with. They stayed there, Luna’s eyes on the horizon, and Ginny’s on her friend. Luna was quite… Ginny didn’t know the word. Her skin was dark and soft, little acne scars along her hairline. She hadn’t dyed her hair for a while, her black roots visible for the first inch or so, before transitioning to her favourite white-blonde shade. Her eyebrows were still dark, and eyes even more so. Ginny’s own bright brown eyes often gathered compliments, but compared to Luna’s dark ones she didn’t understand how her’s could compare. Luna’s eyes seemed to carry this warmth, the soothing dark of a summer’s night sky. 

She was _enchanting,_ that’s what it was. 

“The sunset is quite glorious, isn’t it?” Luna asked in the dreamy voice of her’s that Ginny had become so accustomed to hearing every day. Her eyes never left the horizon, seeming to take in all the warmth and beauty of the sunset and lock them inside her own gaze.

“Uh, yeah. It is.” Ginny blinked a few times, turning back to the sunset. She was suddenly aware of her hand still in Luna’s.

She decided to keep it there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I didn't go into much detail about their ethnicities but I promise promise promise I will real soon! (and by real soon that means probably within the next two chapters, at least)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rumours spread, and Luna doesn't know how to comfort Ginny.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise if there are any spelling or grammatical mistakes, it's a bit late and I tried my best to proofread but I might have missed a few...

“Well done, Ginny!” Harry called, a large grin on his face as he clapped and made his way over. A face splitting smile spread across Ginny’s face as pride rushed through her. “Just move like this,” he reached out and moved her arm slightly, then stuck his foot between her’s, lightly kicking them a bit further apart. “That way there’ll be less of a chance of you loosing your balance from the force of the spell.” 

Ginny’s skin tingled where his hand touched her arm, and the tingling remained when he stepped away. She had been doing well during D.A. meetings and he had always been quick to praise her. All those proud smiles directed at her, she was basking in it. His eyes twinkled with happiness and the fact that she was the one to put those stars in his eyes was more than she could hope for. 

“Great job, Ginny!” Neville grinned, jogging up to her with Luna trailing behind him. “That was amazing! You reduced that thing to putty, it was almost scary.” 

“And Harry seems very pleased with your quick learning. You’re quite a powerful witch, Ginny.” Luna added from Neville’s side. 

Ginny blushed slightly. Whether it was from Harry being pleased with her or more praise from her friends, she didn’t know, nor did she care. “Thanks, you two. Harry’s such an amazing teacher, that’s why I’m doing so well.”

“Oh, don’t be silly!” Neville groaned in an amused manner. “You’re naturally gifted.” 

“Thanks, Neville.”

“Hey, Ginny!” Harry bounded over to them. “Hey Neville, hey Luna.” 

“Hey Harry— we’ll let you two talk.” Neville waved, turning to leave. Luna gave a vague smile and followed Neville. Her smile seemed off; something about it bothered Ginny. But Harry was here and now was not the time to worry about something as silly as a feeling.

“You did so well today!” Harry grinned, reaching out and patting Ginny’s shoulder. Her entire arm tingled and her smile was even larger than Harry’s. “I knew you were talented but wow, that was something else. I was almost scared.” 

“That’s what Neville said.” Ginny laughed, Harry’s green eyes crinkling up as he joined her. His eyes were light and large, beautiful against his dark skin and coarse black hair that stuck out every which way. Ginny loved it all.

“Well it’s true, I think at least half of us took a step back in fear.”

Ginny reach out and lightly smacked his arm. “I’m not that scary!”

“Hey Harry!”

“Stop flirting with our sister!”

Harry turned around to see Fred and George laughing and Ron’s head perking up. He could feel Ron’s watchful eyes to his right, and to save himself from his best friend’s wrath he decided now would be a good time to go give some other students some tips on their aiming or spell pronunciation. 

“I’ll see you around, Ginny.” He waved to her before rushing off the talk to Parvati. 

Ginny would be mad at her brothers, but she was too happy to be bothered to. She’d deal with them tomorrow. Tonight was her night, and she didn’t want anything to spoil it.

———

“Oh my gosh, Parvati!” Lavender Brown hurriedly sat down next to her best friend. Ginny sat across from them reading a book, Neville on Parvati’s other side finishing his breakfast. 

“What’s wrong, Lav?”

“Nothing’s wrong!” She spoke in a rush, using animated hand gestures. “It’s just juicy!”

“Oh! Is this gossip?” Parvati gasped, turing to face Lavender fully. 

“Yes-yes-yes! Have you been watching Cho Chang lately?”

“The Ravenclaw sixth year? No, why?”

“I think she has a crush on Harry!”

Ginny was suddenly on alert, her attention solely on Lavender and Parvati, but her eyes still staring down at her book. She saw Neville tense up out of the the corner of her eye. 

“What?” Parvati’s mouth fell open. “How do you know?”

“The way she looks at him is so obvious! And the way he looks back at her— I think he might fancy her too!” 

Parvati gasped, but Ginny didn’t hear it. All she heard was the blood pounding in her ears. Her head felt fuzzy, and she didn’t want to be there. She snapped her book shut, making the two girls jump.

“You two are too loud, I can’t focus.” She mumbled an excuse before standing up and swiftly walking out of the Great Hall. 

Lavender’s eyes widened in horror, realising that Ginny had been there the entire time. Ginny’s feelings for Harry were no secret, after all. Neville winced and gave Lavender and Parvati an apologetic look before standing up and following Ginny. 

“Ginny!” He called, running up behind her and slowing to match her pace. “Are you alright?”

“Peachy.” She muttered, not bothering to look at him. 

“Ginny, it’s just gossip, nothing Lavender says is ever true. There’s probably nothing going on with Harry—”

“Look, Neville!” Ginny stopped in her tracks and Neville stumbled a bit. “I’m fine! Nothing’s wrong! I don’t care what’s going on with Harry! I just want to read my book in peace!” 

Neville’s mouth was ajar and he didn’t move. Ginny let out a stuttered breath through her nose. 

“Okay. I-I’m sorry, I’ll let you read. See you at lunch.” He quickly turned around and made his way back to the Great Hall in a rush. Ginny felt a small stab of guilt for hurting his feelings, but honestly she didn’t want to deal with anything right now. Her cheeks were red, she knew that. She could feel the heat radiating off her entire face. Maybe if she went to the Hospital Wing she might be able to pass it off as a fever and miss her classes for at least half the day. 

———

Luna sat alone in Charms. The seat next to her was usually occupied by Ginny, but Luna hadn’t seen her since last night. She was worried, but she didn’t let it show on her face. Perhaps Ginny was ill— she should visit the Hospital Wing after class. It was lunch next period after all, so she’d have time to look around. 

The hospital wing was, however, empty of any sign of Ginny. A small Slytherin from the year below her laid in one bed, sleeping, but that was all. 

“Is everything alright, Dear? Are you sick?” Madam Pomfrey asked, walking over to Luna. 

“I’m fine, thank you. I was just looking for someone. Have a nice day, Madam Pomfrey.” She turned and left, not sure where else to look. Perhaps Ginny stayed in the dorms today. Maybe she overslept. Luna couldn’t check, since she wasn’t allowed in Gryffindor tower. Perhaps her brothers knew.

 

“It’s ridiculous, honestly.” Ron complained through a mouthful of beans. 

“Ronald, how many times have I told you not to eat with your mouth full! It’s disgusting.” Hermione scolded, blowing the steam off her pumpkin soup. 

“Only about a hundred times, Mum.” He shot back, turning to share a joking smile with Harry from across the table.

“Hello Harry, hello Ron, hello Hermione.” Luna addressed each of them. Ron jumped and dropped his spoon.

“Bloody hell, Luna, don’t scare me like that!” Ron turned to look at her, who had approached silently from behind.

“Would you happen to know where Ginny is? She didn’t come to class and she isn’t sick in the Hospital Wing.”

“Um, I don’t know. I saw her at breakfast, though.” Ron answered, turning back to his beans. 

“Oh, alright. Thank you, Ron. Also,” Luna dug through her bag and produced a necklace with a butterbeer cork attached to it. “I heard you complain yesterday about being unable to find a pair of your socks. This should keep away the Nargles— your socks will turn up soon.” Ron hesitantly took the necklace from her, and she smiled and left. 

“That girl is something else…” He let out a breathy laugh, shaking his head as he held up the necklace for Harry and Hermione to see. 

———

Ginny sat on the couch of the empty common room. She could skip the D.A. meeting tonight, but she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to or not. She wanted to go, the D.A. was always the highlight of her day. And she’d see Harry; She always forgot about anything that was bothering her when he was there. But what Lavender said kept tugging at her mind. She would be hyper aware of everything he did— and everything Cho did. She had nothing against Cho, honestly. She felt kind of bad for her really. The previous year had been really rough on her. But that didn’t mean Ginny wanted to see Harry making googly eyes at her. How had she never noticed before? She was always paying attention to Harry—

She shook her head. Neville was right, nothing Lavender said was ever true. She was turning Cho into some sort of villain without any confirmation that anything between her and Harry even existed. That wasn’t fair to Cho. But as long as Ginny didn’t know, she’d dance around this idea of Cho as some sort of rival, and she really didn’t want that. She’d go to the meeting tonight. Nothing would happen, and her mood would be restored. 

———

Ginny was right, the D.A. would make her feel better. She was in her element, sparring with Padma Patil. Within three moves she had Padma’s wand flying across the room and the cheers of four students watching them rang out. Padma clapped and smiled at her, running over to give her a pat on the back before going to grab her wand. 

She looked around and locked eyes with Harry, who sent her a thumbs up. The familiar feeling of pride swelled up in her chest and she smiled back, before he turned back to the third year Hufflepuff boy he had been helping before. 

Padma had gone off to talk to her sister, so Ginny decided to find someone else to spar with. She scanned the room and her eyes landed on Cho. She was standing by herself, muttering a spell that sent silver sparks from the tip. She looked a bit frustrated and deep in concentration, but all that came from the tip were tiny sparks, which Ginny assumed were not what she wanted. Ginny’s first thought would always be to help someone out, but she hesitated. No, Cho didn’t do anything wrong. Cho was just Cho, who needs help with a spell Ginny knew how to perform. Ginny shook her head a bit and took a deep breath to clear her head, then made her way over. Halfway there, she halted. Harry had beat her there, and he now had his arm on top of hers, grasping her wand over top of her hand. Cho’s blush was evident as she kept ducking her head and covering her face with her hair so he couldn’t see it. Harry tried to act like he didn’t notice, but the tips of his ears betrayed him as they slowly began to turn red as well.

Ginny couldn’t hear again. All that registered to her was the constant ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump of the blood rushing through her body. So Cho did like Harry. But— but that doesn’t mean he likes her back, right?

Harry looked down at Cho and she smiled at him. He let go of her, flustered, and walked away, breathing a bit heavier than before. 

Ginny could faintly register something next to her ear. Someone was speaking.

“Ginny. Ginny! Hey!” 

Ginny’s head snapped up and the fuzziness was gone. She turned to her left and saw Neville next to her, looking confused and slightly worried. 

“You okay? I’ve been calling you for the past two minutes.” 

“Uh, yeah. I’m fine.”

Neville followed Ginny’s gaze to Cho, and Cho’s gaze to Harry. He gave a small sigh, his shoulders deflating as he turned back to Ginny.

“Hey, Ginny, listen. Everything will be fine, alright?” 

Ginny gave a small nod, before turning on her heels and walking over to Padma again. 

————

Luna didn’t know how to comfort Ginny. Truthfully, she didn’t know how to comfort anyone. She would just say the first thing in her mind, which often was how she dealt with whatever was wrong. But she didn’t know what was wrong. Ginny was gone for one day, then after that she had been acting oddly. She tried her best to act normally, sometimes even overdoing it (she even once asked Luna to explain how to make jewellery to ward off wrackspurts— no one ever asks that). But even with her grins that didn’t quite spread to her eyes anymore, she was constantly… alert. She seemed to always be on her toes, like every second was a second closer to something bad she knew would happen. Luna knew better than to ask her what was wrong— Ginny never talked about her feelings to anyone, except perhaps Hermione. 

“Hey Luna, no Ginny today?” Neville asked, slipping into the seat next to Luna at their usual library table. 

“Oh hello, Neville. And no, I haven’t seen her much today, either. She’s been very distant lately.” Luna mused, busying herself with stacking her textbooks to clean up the area a bit. Neville spilled the contents of his bag onto the now clean area, textbooks and loose pieces of parchment spilling out. His ink bottle tumbled out quite harshly, opening and spilling. He cursed under his breath and took out his wand to clean up the mess.

“Yeah, she has, hasn’t she?” It was more of a statement than a question. “She’s had… a lot on her mind lately.”

“I believe the phrase ‘a penny for your thoughts’ would be appropriate right now.”

Neville chuckled. “I guess I can tell you, practically everyone knows by now. You know about how Ginny feels for Harry, right?”

Luna nodded. Ginny had briefly mentioned her ‘childhood’ crush on Harry once, but never went into detail. Lots of people had crushes on Harry, though. Most of them moved on, as one would move on from a celebrity crush. Harry was quite a celebrity, so it would make sense.

“Well apparently… according to Lavender Brown, Harry and Cho have a sort of thing going on. I’m not spreading rumours!” Neville raised his hands as a gesture of innocence. “But honestly, everything Lavender says is never true. She just likes to gossip. But it’s enough to make Ginny worried.”

Luna nodded slowly, taking in all the information. So Ginny still felt for Harry. That’s believable, Harry was practically part of their family now. He was more than just a celebrity to her, he was a close friend. 

There was a small pang in her chest. As it rang out through her body, it picked up every feeling and left her hollow. She hadn’t felt this way in a long time, not since her first year, at least, before she had become used to the names kids called her. 

“So…” Neville tried to fill the silence, but Luna’s only response was to open her Herbology textbook and continue her essay on plangentines.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ginny has her first heartbreak, and Hermione holds her through it.

It was the last week of school before the winter holidays. Not only did that mean going home, but it also meant this was the last D.A. meeting for the year. Ginny was eager to go home— she missed her parents and she was tired of the ridiculous Ministry-issued curriculum. Even more, she didn’t want to deal with the sympathetic looks Lavender and Parvati would give her, or the support Neville tried to give. Neville was just trying to help, she knew that and appreciated it more than he knew, but she honestly preferred to just ignore it all. Having Neville act like she was so fragile all the time just got annoying after a while. The winter holidays would give her a nice break from it all.

“I’m very proud of all of you,” Harry announced, smiling wider than Ginny had seen in a while. “You’ve all learnt so much from the little bit I’ve been doing—” Someone shouted “Bullshit!” and Harry gave a chuckle, “—and I want to say thanks for sticking around and, you know, not ratting us out to Umbridge I guess.” The crowd erupted into laughter. Harry pushed his hair out of his eyes, only to have it fall right back into the same place. 

“Have a good holiday everyone, see you next year.” He ended, seeming to want to get it over with quickly. He never really liked all the eyes on him, so a small speech like that was the best they would get. But it was all they needed; everyone began clapping and cheering and a few people went over to Harry to pat his back and wish him happy holidays. Ginny didn’t bother, Harry was coming home with the Weasleys, anyway.

Ginny went to stick her wand in her pocket and felt a piece of slightly crumpled paper. Unfolding it, she realised it was the letter she had received from her mother that morning, asking her to tell Harry and Hermione not to bring their sweaters since she had made them new ones, like usual. She turned on her heels and was about to call out to him, but her voice got caught in her throat. Harry was standing next to Cho Chang, talking about something quietly. Ginny didn’t want to interrupt, but she wouldn’t see Harry again until they were on the train home, so she decided to wait. She made sure to keep out of earshot, however.

The room was about empty by then, and Ginny felt even more awkward, like she wasn’t supposed to be there. Cho wiped her eyes and Harry’s eyebrows knit together slightly. Was she crying? A pang of guilt ran through Ginny’s chest. Slowly something began creeping down from the ceiling above their heads, and they looked up. She didn’t have to hear what Harry said to know what it was— mistletoe. 

She should have left. She shouldn’t have been snooping in the first place. Even if she couldn’t hear them, she could see them, and that was bad enough. The second their lips touched Ginny screwed her eyes shut and all but ran out the door. 

————

Luna sat by the edge of the river near her home. It had snowed lightly the night before. She watched the river slowly flow, not quite frozen yet. It was calm and quiet, but it didn’t carry the warmth of the sunset at the Hogwart’s lake. That was, by far, one of Luna’s favourite memories, and she made sure to never forget the way the sun looked that evening, or how Ginny’s eyes carried the warmth of roasted chestnuts and her hair seemed to be aflame. She closed her eyes and pictured it all again. She far preferred that over empty frozen rivers.

————

The holidays were not at all what Ginny had hoped for. Her father was attacked, alive thankfully, but injured. It put a strain on her entire family, especially her mother; Yet she kept that warm smile she always had, trying to convince the children that everyone was alright. She wasn’t fooling anyone, and they all knew that, but they let her be. Perhaps it was better that way. 

Harry was distant. He had saved Mr. Weasley, but he felt that he wasn’t good enough, that because he was still injured meant that he had failed him. And the dream, the vision, whatever it was, had obviously freaked him out. Being near Sirius again was helping him, so rather than comforting him, Ginny let him be. She knew Sirius would be a better help than she would. 

And through all of that, her heart still ached. It was selfish, she knew it, but she couldn’t help it. She had no control of how her heart would beat, she had no control of how it would break. All she could do was let it be.

Ginny walked into the room she shared with Hermione, the old door creaking loudly as she tried to gently close it. 

“The more you try to keep it quiet, the louder it gets.” Hermione joked, gesturing to the door. She was sitting on her bed, textbooks scattered around her as she tied her hair in a bun. Her curls protested, slipping out and sticking every which way, and eventually she left it as is. 

“Really?” Ginny raised an eyebrow and and glanced down at the textbooks, pushing one aside so she could sit at the edge of the bed. 

“O.W.Ls are this year for me,” she sighed, opening a potions book. “As much as I hate the new Ministry-issued curriculum, I’d hate it more if I failed.” 

Ginny nodded. “Fair enough.” She ran her finger along the spine of a dusty book titled ‘The Magnificent History of Ancient Runes’. “Hey,” she debated if she should really bring it up, but suddenly she was itching to talk to someone about it. Suffering in silence was never her way of dealing with things. “Do you perhaps know a spell to unsee something?”

Hermione looked up, puzzled. “Elaborate, please.”

“Um, I might have…” She trailed off. She didn’t want to tell secrets that weren’t her’s, but she was positive Harry would have told Ron and Hermione. Either them, or no one at all. “Cho. Uh—”

“Oh.” Hermione interrupted. She knew exactly what Ginny was talking about. “You saw…?”

“I—” Ginny found her voice growing quieter and threatening to break. “I wanted to talk to Harry, Mum had asked me to tell him something about what to pack, and I waited for him to stop talking to her. And…” Her voice seemed to stop working. A small squeak came out and she closed her mouth, figuring she’d said enough. She looked up at Hermione, and at the sympathetic look she gave her she felt her eyes tear up. 

“Oh no!” Hermione whispered, pushing her textbooks aside, not caring that some fell to the floor, to crawl over and wrap her arms around Ginny. “Oh no, Ginny…”

“It’s fine.” She mumbled, knowing that it was a lie, and knowing that Hermione knew it was a lie. “It’s been three years, if he hadn’t noticed by now h-he won’t e-ever notice.” Her voice began to crack and she couldn’t look Hermione in the eyes. “I’m just Ron’s little s-sister.” 

“Listen,” Hermione said softly, her dark fingers stroking Ginny’s hair. “This will sound harsh, but you need to let go.”

It did sound harsh, but Ginny kept her mouth shut.

“You can’t let your life revolve around him. Waiting and waiting for him, you’re more than that. You’re popular and loved and strong, and just because one boy fancies someone else doesn’t mean you’re anything less.” She put her hand on the side of Ginny’s head and gently pushed her to rest on her shoulder. “Harry is just your first crush, there are plenty of fish in the sea.”

And Ginny knew that; But the true thing that scared her was if she would ever find anyone like Harry again. He was so kind and gentle and selfless, a soul like his doesn’t come around so easily. 

“Normally people would say to wait for him, but don’t. Let him go, Ginny. You’ll only be dragged down waiting for him. Don’t just let him go, let yourself go. Live your life, don’t let it revolve around him.” 

Ginny could hear Hermione’s slightly strained breathing— she was probably holding back tears as well. How could a fifteen year old say such wise words?

————

“Ginny, have I told you about the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare?” 

There was a muffled groan from where Ron sat by the window and Hermione frowned, before focusing back on Ginny. 

“Um, no…?” It turned into somewhat of a question, more of a ‘should I know about it?’.

“It’s S.P.E.W.” Ron clarified, and Ginny let out a small ‘ooooh’ of understanding. Ron liked to complain about S.P.E.W. quite a lot.

“I’ve only heard of it a few times, what’s it for?”

“It’s to ‘Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status’.” The line sounded rehearsed, and Ginny wouldn’t doubt it if Hermione had rehearsed it before. She glanced back at her brother to see his head lolled back and his book over his face. “All you have to do is pay two sickles.”

“Don’t do it, Gin.” Ron’s muffled voice warned her.

“Uh, I don’t really have much money on me…” Ginny trailed off, not sure what to say. Hermione seemed deep in thought, before thrusting a badge into Ginny’s hands.

“It’s alright, I’ll give you one for free.”

“What?!” Ron scrambled to sit up properly, his book falling haphazardly to the floor. “You made me pay! And everyone else!”

“It’s the holidays now, Ron.” Hermione stuck her nose in the air. “It’s my gift to her. Consider it a holiday discount.” 

Ginny smiled and stuck the pin over her chest. “Thanks, Hermione.”

“My pleasure,” She smiled, putting her papers in order. “If you could, it would be nice if you’d take a few badges and try to get other people to join as well and spread the word a bit. We’re a bit short on members—”

“Oh, lay off Hermione!” Ron sighed. “Nobody cares, it’s not like the house elves care about it either.”

“Hush, Ronald!” Hermione pointed a glare at him. “You don’t get it, okay? Slavery like this towards house elves is wrong and absolutely inhumane. Don’t you go telling me to ‘lay off’!” 

Ginny’s eyes grew wide and she gave Ron a look that said ‘just shut up’. Ron made a point to ignore her.

“It’s not slavery, Hermione! They want to do it. They enjoy it! You’re just upsetting them and annoying everyone else.” 

Hermione’s mouth was slightly agape, and Ginny counted the seconds before she exploded. One, two, three, four—

_“Ronald!”_

Four seconds, much longer than her usual immediate snap. She was absolutely livid, the stray pieces of hair sticking out from her bun bouncing wildly as she shook her head. 

“Of course it’s slavery! Even if they want to do it, they’d have no choice either way! What if they’re given a job they don’t want to do, perhaps one they’re scared of. They’d have no choice but to do it! They cook for us and clean for us; they take their master’s abuse and still have to obey their every command, and you’re telling me this isn’t slavery? They get no pay, no holidays, nothing! Nothing, Ronald!” Hermione’s hands were balled into fists and she stood up. 

“You don’t get it. You won’t ever get it either! You’re ancestors weren’t the ones who suffered like mine.” And with that she grabbed her bag of S.P.E.W. badges and left.

Ginny turned to look at Ron, who just sat there with his mouth slightly open. Neither of them said anything for a moment, taking it everything Hermione had said.

“You better apologise.”

Ron seemed to debate this, knowing he had upset her but being stubborn as always.

“Ron, you need to apologise. That was pretty bad.”

Ron’s mouth was dry, and he gulped down what little saliva he had left, before mumbling the tiniest “Okay.” He stood up and slowly made his way to the door, gently shutting it behind him.

————

“What’re you making?” Hermione asked, leaning over to get a view of what was in Ginny’s hands.

“A pumpkin seed bracelet.” 

It took her a moment to realise that a pumpkin seed bracelet isn’t something someone would normally make. She looked up to see Hermione’s confused face and she further explained, “It’s for Luna.”

“Ah, I see.” 

“I don’t have enough money or time to buy everyone presents so I thought I’d make her something.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet.” Hermione cooed, giving Ginny a soft smile. Ginny’s cheeks heated up the tiniest bit, suddenly slightly embarrassed. No, of course she wasn’t blushing.

“Yeah she, um, she said it was good to ward off some sort of… I can’t even remember what they were called honestly.” She and Hermione laughed. She held up the bracelet for both of them to see. “It kind of looks like shit but it’s the best I can do.”

“Luna will love it either way.”

Ginny just nodded.

“You know, you’re all Luna talks about.”

She looked up, surprise obvious in her eyes. “Really?”

“Yeah, she absolutely adores you. She only ever really talks to us to ask about you.”

Ginny felt herself blush for real this time. She wasn’t sure why, but knowing that Luna talked about her so much was… heartwarming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something seems a bit... off about this chapter?? No matter. The next chapter should see to some Harry and Luna interaction and more S.P.E.W.!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry discovers he and Luna have more in common than he thought.

Ginny was not a morning person, and waking up for classes after a few weeks of holiday break was not what she wanted to be doing right now. Hermione had been kind enough (she used the word lightly) to set an alarm every morning for 6:30 to try to ‘train us to get used to waking up early again’. Ginny slept through it every time.

The only thing that could, perhaps, make her morning better was some nice hot pancakes and jam. 

“How was waking up?” Hermione asked, sitting next to Ginny at the table. She looked up at her with bleary eyes. Hermione winced, “Ooh, that bad?” 

Ron and Harry arrived, sitting across from them, looking almost as bad as Ginny. 

“Can none of you actually wake up in the morning?”

“Hermione,” Ron croaked, placing his index finger in front of his lips. “Shh. Just shh.” 

Hermione rolled her eyes and reached over to grab a muffin. “Well, you don’t look so bad, Harry.”

Harry ran his fingers through his hair, trying to fix his bedhead, to no avail. “Really? Thanks. I feel like hell, though.” 

“I mean, you look like halfway to hell, but not as bad as Ron. He’s like hell plus three.” Ginny mumbled, loud enough for them to hear. Hermione giggled and Harry grinned, Ron too tired to even care. 

The one good thing that came out of the holiday break was that Ginny was no longer awkward with Harry. She could sit down and just hang out with him. Of course, she wasn’t completely fine. Occasionally she’d think about him too much and feel a small stab of sadness in her chest, before shaking the thoughts out of her head and reminding herself that she was better than that, that she can move on.

“Ron— _Ronald!_ Don’t act like an animal, one sausage at a time!”

————

Ginny sat at her usual seat in Charms, one of the first people in the classroom. She idly played with the pumpkin seed bracelet, twirling the seeds lightly so they wouldn’t break. Another student entered, and Ginny’s head shot up. Not Luna. Two more student walked in a few seconds later— not Luna either. She was getting slightly impatient; she had been waiting over a week to give this to her, and she wanted to—

Luna walked in, and Ginny’s stomach dropped. Never mind, nope, nope. She couldn’t do this. Such a silly present, she didn’t know if pumpkin seeds even did anything. She might have just imagined Luna telling her about them (which, in all honesty, wouldn’t be that far-fetched of an idea).

“Good morning, Ginny! How were your holidays?”

“Oh!” Ginny sniffed and cleared her throat, realising that in her worry Luna had already sat down next to her and taken out her textbook and holiday homework. “My holidays were good, how about yours?”

Seemingly oblivious to Ginny’s behaviour, Luna smiled and mused, “Absolutely lovely; Father and I made christmas decorations out of dirigible plums. New Years was also special, especially since it was our Independence Day.”

Ginny’s eyebrows furrowed. “Independence Day? What do you mean?”

“Taiwan’s Independence Day.” Luna’s smile grew wider and her eyes twinkled. “It’s a very important holiday, and we always celebrated it in my family. Even when my grandparents moved here they kept celebrating it.”

Ginny smiled. Behind Luna’s eyes, she saw stars, their light bursting with pride.

“I have a gift for you!” Luna reached into her bag and brought out a small box wrapped in red and green paper.

“Festive,” Ginny chuckled as she ripped off the paper. The box was painted gold with thin silver ivy designs wrapping around it. Ginny felt a stab of guilt for not wrapping the bracelet in something, let alone a box as pretty as this. Inside was a pair of earrings, small golden disks dangling from the hook, a rabbit engraved in them.

“Gold suits you.” Luna mumbled, her eyes fixed on Ginny’s.

“The rabbit…” 

“Means you’ll always have a friend with you.”

Memories of their patronus lesson flitted through Ginny’s mind, Luna’s silver rabbit hopping past her and making her hair flutter in it’s wake. 

“These are so… Luna, these are so gorgeous!” She sputtered a bit, unable to believe the present Luna gave her. 

“I wasn’t sure what to get you, and Neville said you might like something more normal, so—”

“No, Luna, I love these!” She interrupted, hastily slipping them into her ears. She didn’t want Luna to give Neville all the credit. She was the one who had gotten her the earrings, anyway. “How do they look?”

Luna’s features softened, and she smiled. “Lovely.”

Ginny’s grin faded a bit when she realised she’d have to give Luna her present now. Her head felt a bit light, worrying that her present wasn’t good enough. It definitely didn’t live up to the earrings. 

“I, uh…” Ginny thrusted the pumpkin seed bracelet into Luna’s hands. “I made you something.”

Luna examined the bracelet, holding it up in front of her face. Her eyes began to twinkle again, and her cheeks were tinged pink. 

“Ginny, I love it.” 

Ginny would have thought she were bluffing if not for the absolutely genuine smile on her face and how she was already slipping it on her wrist. She didn’t pay attention to Luna’s rambling about the importance of pumpkin seeds and their relations to some other whats-it-called creature; all she could focus on was the look in Luna’s eyes.

————

Luna was pleased. For the past two days, Ginny had not once taken her earrings off. Every time she turned to her, she could see the golden rabbits swinging, and nothing made her happier than remembering Ginny’s smile when she opened the gift. She needed to remember to thank Neville for the suggestion.

Walking into the library, her usual seat was occupied by a small band of second years. They were pouring over textbooks of what appeared to be Potions, each student seeming more frazzled than the last. Luna debated giving them a spare Galanthus Nivalis wreath she had for improving her memory during study sessions, but a quick search of her bag concluded that she’d left it in the dormitory. Moving more towards the back of the library, Luna spotted a head of familiar bushy brown hair, and she sped over to her table. 

“Hello, Hermione.” She greeted to no response; Hermione was too immersed in her book to notice Luna’s arrival. She turned to Harry, who sat next to her, a lot less interested in his studies than Hermione. “Hello, Harry.”

“Hey, Luna.” He shut his book and took his glasses off, massaging the bridge of his nose. 

“Trouble focusing?” Luna asked, sitting next to him and taking her books out. 

“Just a bit, yeah.” 

“What’s on your mind?”

“Oh just…” He trailed off. “Stuff. Dealing with these ridiculous classes and coming up with plans for the D.A. Being a teacher isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.”

“You’ve thought of pursuing a career in teaching?”

“Er, no, not really, actually.”

“Harry!” Hermione’s head snapped up and she swiftly reached out to smack his arm. “You’re supposed to be studying! Not talking to— Oh, hello Luna, I didn’t notice you were here.”

“Hello, Hermione.” Luna smiled, gesturing to the textbook in Hermione’s hands. “What are you studying?”

“Transfiguration— there’s so much content squeezed into such a short time I’m so worried I won’t catch up!”

Luna’s brows furrowed. “But this term only just began.”

“That doesn’t mean we should slack in studying! Start strong, stay strong!” 

She turned to Harry, and he just gave her a head shake in disagreement small enough that Hermione didn’t notice.

“Oh!” Hermione’s head shot up again, before ducking back down to retrieve a small pouch from her overflowing bag. “Luna, would you like to join the cause for the equal rights of House Elves?” 

Luna took no surprise in the question, and responded with a definite, “Of course.”

Hermione seemed taken aback for a moment. She had been so used to everyone’s immediate reaction being confusion, then quickly followed by disinterest. When the realisation that Luna had not even hesitated to agree to her cause, her face quickly lit up and she opened her pouch to quickly grab a badge. 

“Really?! It’s official title is the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, and it only costs two sickles to join!”

Luna smiled and nodded, reaching into her bag and producing the money. She exchanged it for the badge, and pinned it onto her sweater. 

“Oh, thank you so much, Luna! You don’t know how much it means to me that you’re helping this cause!” 

“My pleasure.”

A silence followed, where Hermione had gone back to studying, her smile still on her face for the next ten minutes, Luna following her example and beginning her Herbology homework. Harry idly scratched little drawings into the wooden tabletop with his nail, occasionally taking off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose before placing them back on. Eventually Hermione packed her books, one left out to carry since there was no room for it in her bulging bag, and announced that she and the Patil twins had arranged a study group for Muggle Studies and she had to leave. Harry gave her a small wave before taking his glasses off again and sighing.

“Harry, what’s wrong? Something is bothering you.”

Under Luna’s gaze, he gave in. 

“I’m just a bit… overwhelmed.” He admitted. “It’s a lot, you know? Last year was… intense, to say the least. So much has happened and I—” he scrubbed his face with his hands, “—need a break.” 

“Harry, if the D.A. is becoming too much for you—”

“No! No, no, not that…” He interrupted quickly, settling back down. He stared at the table and began etching little drawings into the table again. “I love the D.A. Everyone seems so happy and the fact that I’m actually _doing_ something that’s actually helping is so… amazing. I’m actually making a difference, you know?”

“Harry, you’ve always made a difference. You’re always _doing_ something. You just don’t realise it.”

He shook his head.

“No, I always try to do something, but it always makes things worse. It always has.”

There was a pause.

“You’re heart is too good.”

Harry looked up at Luna, who was smiling softly. She reached out to etch a little ‘L’ next to his scratches on the tabletop.

“You’re too modest,” she continued, “…too much of a good heart. You don’t realise that everything you’ve done has made a difference. My mum would always tell me that everything everyone does has meaning and has an outcome. Even the simplest things, like picking up something someone has dropped for them, makes a difference.”

Harry chewed his bottom lip in thought, taking in what she had said. 

“Thanks, Luna.”

————

“Do you think about her a lot?”

Harry sat on a large tree root protruding from the ground, the leaves above casting a murky green-grey glow below. Luna stood in front of a small, young thestral, watching it eat the piece of meat she had thrown it. It had become a habit of hers to come and visit them every once in a while, and Harry began making it a habit to join her. 

“Who?” Luna asked.

“Your mother.”

Luna didn’t reply for a bit, and Harry immediately regretted asking. However, Luna turned around, the misty smile she often had still on her face, and made her way to sit next to Harry. 

“Sometimes, yes.”

“Do you miss her?”

“Yes. It’s not quite the same without her at home. Holidays aren’t the same anymore. Dad doesn’t really know exactly how to celebrate the cultural holidays, but he tries his best.”

“What do you mean?”

“Dad isn’t Taiwanese, only Mum. Celebrating Taiwanese holidays are a bit different with just Dad, since he doesn’t know as much as Mum did about them.”

Harry’s eyebrows flew up. “You’re mixed?”

“Yes, you didn’t know?” 

“No, I didn’t… I’m— I’m mixed, too. Mum’s British, Dad’s South Indian.” 

Harry felt a jab of something akin to excitement in his chest. He wasn’t… He wasn’t the only mixed kid. He had grown up so alienated for being mixed, pushed away from everyone just because he didn’t fit into the posh white neighbourhood he was raised in. 

He wasn’t alone in this experience anymore.

“Do you know much about your culture?” Luna asked.

The excitement died down a bit, and Harry’s face fell.

“No. I know next to nothing. My dad obviously wasn’t around to teach me, and my aunt and uncle hated my parents and me so… No. I tried to do research myself, but with no one to guide me I didn’t really know where to start.”

“That’s alright, Harry. Lots of mixed kids feel disconnected from their culture and don’t know much about it. Since Mum passed when I was nine, I don’t remember much of what she taught me. Dad only knows a little of what she had taught him, so I don’t know much either.”

Harry felt a bit comforted knowing he wasn’t the only one with a lack of knowledge about his own heritage.

“I always feel so… disconnected. I feel like I’m being pushed away by both sides. My entire childhood I wasn’t allowed to feel like I belonged with my mum’s side, but I don’t feel like I deserve to belong to my dad’s. I feel like I’m not enough to fit in anywhere.”

Luna reached out and placed her hand on top of Harry’s. He’d been tearing up without realising, and he quickly wiped it away with his sleeve.

“It’s okay, Harry. You’re enough. I know what you’re feeling, but Mum always told me, ‘It’s not that you’re not enough for more than one culture, it’s that you’re strong enough to embrace them all’.”

Harry blinked away a few stray tears and looked at Luna, who was stroking the top of his hand with her thumb.

“You don’t have to embrace both sides either, Harry. It’s up to you. If you would rather only identify as one instead of both, you have every right to.” She smiled. 

Harry gave a small smile back, before they both turned to watch the thestrals again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the long wait!! Exam period just finished and I've been focusing entirely on school for the past month. I'm going on holidays in a week, and I'll try to crank out as many chapters as I can in that two week period!
> 
> This chapter might seem a bit wonky since I wrote the beginning a month ago and the rest of it this past week. Also, I finally delved into Harry and Luna's cultures and friendship! I'm gonna try and keep mentioning more about Luna being Taiwanese (also please correct me if I ever put out any false information about Taiwanese culture, I'm not the most familiar with it, and I don't want to spread inaccurate information).
> 
> I'll try and get the next chapter out as soon as possible!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ginny confronts her lingering jealousy, Harry and Cho have their first 'date', and Luna does some research.

“Harry, you’re oddly quiet.” 

Harry turned to look at Hermione, and took a few extra seconds to register what she had said. 

“Oh, am I?”

“Yeah, mate. Does making googly eyes at your girlfriend really take that much concentration?” Ron snorted.

“She’s not—” Harry backtracked, she kind of was his girlfriend now. “I mean, she is… I wasn’t making googly eyes!”

“Sure, Romeo.” Ron grinned into his cup of pumpkin juice. 

As soon as he finished defending himself, Harry went back to, what could only be described as making ‘googly eyes’, at his girlfriend from across the hall.

Ginny watched quietly from her seat next to Hermione. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a smaller, much sadder version of herself sat down and curled up. Somewhere back there she wished he would stare at her that way. Somewhere back there she wished she would have at least had a chance.

She pinched her leg and the small sad Ginny disappeared into smoke. She couldn’t think that way, Harry was her friend, and she was happy that he was happy. Her life wouldn’t revolve around him anymore.

But smoke lingers.

————

“You go from making out to suddenly being too shy to hold hands?”

“We _did_ hold hands!”

“But that was it!”

“Look, what do you recommend is the appropriate pace for a relationship, oh-one-with-more-experience-than-me?”

Ron scrunched his face up in distaste at Harry’s sarcasm, but replied nonetheless, “I dunno, I thought you’d probably kiss again.”

“You don’t get to dictate what Harry should and shouldn’t be doing in his relationship.” Hermione sniffed, idly turning the page of her novel. 

“Anyway,” Ron rolled his eyes, “Keep going.”

Harry picked up from where he had been interrupted, “I mean, we just talked the whole time really. We held hands and talked about… everything, I guess. We talked more about ourselves, stuff like hobbies and silly facts like favourite colours and lucky numbers. We talked a lot about quidditch, too.”

Ron let out something halfway between a groan and a sigh and slumped back against the arm rest. “Well, sounds like you two had an exciting date.”

“More exciting than your nonexistent ones,” Hermione muttered, bursting into giggles as Ron chucked a decorative pillow at her. 

Harry grinned. The sound of the two bickering became a small hum in the back of his mind as he thought about his… ‘date’. It wasn’t much of a date really, since it was too cold to go outside and neither of them were allowed in the other’s common room. They roamed the halls and settled on a bench near the courtyard, where they could look outside without getting too cold.

Nonetheless, he held her hand. “It’s— it’s kinda cold.” He had said, hoping that she’d chalk up the redness of his cheeks to the cold draft.

With a knowing smile, she gave his hand a comforting squeeze. 

After a moments silence, she mumbled that her favourite quidditch team was the Tutshill Tornadoes. Harry mentioned that was Ron’s least favourite team, and that launched Cho into a very passionate and slightly angry argument against that. Harry tried not to laugh, he really did, but a small giggle slipped out. Cho stopped talking, then her eyes widened with the realisation of how ridiculous she was being. They both laughed, and he stroked the top of her hand with his thumb.

Harry’s stomach churned. He realised that this was only the beginning, that he and Cho had so much more time to spend together. For once, the churning was a happy feeling, a giddy dizziness buzzing from his stomach up into his head. He was happy. 

He was really, really, happy.

————

It was the first D.A. meeting of the year and Ginny was already frustrated. 

“No, wait, Dean that’s still a flick! Don’t—” she looked up at Dean and he quickly looked away. One of her eyebrows twitched in annoyance. He wasn’t even paying attention to what she was saying, just staring at her. At any other time she would have found it funny, but she had been trying to perfect his form for three minutes now and she didn’t have time for this. 

Across the room, Harry had his arm around Cho. He was adjusting her grip on her wand, which was really just an excuse to cuddle his girlfriend, Ginny reckoned. Cho was smiling widely, and Harry laughed a bit at something she said. He let go and moved onto helping a fourth year near him, but not before quickly wrapping his fingers around hers for a moment. 

Ginny’s heart skipped a beat, before she ground her teeth together and gave her heart a smack. This has to stop, this ridiculous jealousy has to stop. Harry and Cho were happy together, why couldn’t she let that go?

Watching Cho, she realised she’d never really talked to her much, other than a few hello’s. Cho was still, in her mind, a blank figure to hate, another competitor in the race. She was nothing more than a face to her. 

Maybe if she knew the person, she wouldn’t hate the face.

“Sorry, Ginny. I’m so used to always doing a flick for—” 

“Yeah, whatever, it’s fine.” Ginny mumbled, already walking past Dean. “Hey, Cho!”

Cho looked up and smiled at Ginny, who jogged toward her. “Hey, Ginny.”

“Wanna practice a bit together?” 

“Sure!” Cho’s smile was sweet and completely genuine, and Ginny felt something in her chest melt a bit. 

Cho was quite efficient, to say the least. She preferred a defensive route, as opposed to Ginny, who took the offence. She dodged two disarming spells before swiftly throwing one of her’s, hitting Ginny dead on. 

By the end of four rounds, Ginny found herself laughing.

—————

Harry sat at a library table, a piece of parchment in front of him. He had written half a sentence of his Herbology essay. That was, in his eyes, quite a feat considering how busy he’s become the past few months. He felt his eyelids drooping… Perhaps he could add another three sentences after he woke up…

A loud thud on the table jolted him awake, and he hastily pushed his glasses back up his nose and looked around for the sound. In front of him were a stack of books, a shadow cast over him. He looked up and found Luna standing above him, her hands on the strap of her bag and a large smile on her face. 

“Harry! Hermione told me you’d came here to study.” She turned her head slightly so she could read his paper. “…Or perhaps try to, she had said you probably weren’t going to get much done.”

Harry would have been slightly offended at Hermione’s lack of faith in him if not for it being true. 

“Uh, yeah.” He slipped his fingers under his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “What’re these for?”

“These,” Luna grabbed the book on the top and placed it in front of him. “Are our new project.” 

Harry dusted off the cover to reveal the title _Meghaduta Of Kalidasa._

“That’s a Sanskrit lyric poem.”

Harry took a moment to digest what she had just said and the book in front of him. He looked up at her, and she answered his unsaid question.

“I wrote to Dad asking him to pick that book up for you, it just arrived this morning. These,” she gestured to the other four books still stacked in front on him, “Are library books I found on Indian culture and the history of magic in India.”

Harry’s head was swimming, taking this all in. He opened the book in front of him to the middle, running his fingers over the Sanskrit words and their English translations. He closed it and touched the words of the title, indented into the hardcover. 

“Luna, you didn’t have to—”

“It’s fine, Harry. It’s a gift for you.”

Harry was silent again, taking all of it in, before Luna smiled and plopped down into the chair next to him and grabbed another book from the stack.

“Let’s start reading.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short and choppy, I wanted to finally finish off with Ginny's feelings for Harry and her starting to accept it, so now I can move onto more Luna/Ginny and start writing longer sections again.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ginny insists it's not a date, but her cheeks keep saying otherwise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Cho and Harry went to Madam Puddifoot's for Valentine's Day, but I put them in the Three Broomsticks instead since it made more sense with this chapter.

This time every year was always filled with whispers and giggles floating through the winter wind. The first trip to Hogsmeade of the new year was approaching quickly, and as always, landed on Valentine’s Day. People gossiped to one another of who they would take out, who was rejected, and who was staying back or going alone. Ginny, as per every year, would go without a date. Her friends were all she needed. She thought to herself on who she could ask to accompany her; Neville, Hermione, Luna— 

Something in her chest jolted. It caused her throat to go dry, and she didn’t know why. This would be the first year she’d ask Luna to hang out with her, technically, outside of school, and for some reason this made her nervous. Perhaps she was afraid Luna wouldn’t want to hang out with her? That, maybe, they were only school friends, not close enough to hang out beyond the walls? This was, logically, ridiculous. Luna made it very clear how much she cherished their friendship. But somehow the thought of asking Luna still made her palms sweaty. 

“There’s an easy explanation to that,” Neville made a face that could only be described as ‘duh’. “Everyone’s nervous about asking someone out on a date.” 

Ginny sputtered. “It’s not a date, Neville!” 

“Alright, then a platonic date. But really, why else would you be nervous on asking someone to go to Hogsmeade with you on Valentine’s Day?” 

“Because I’ve never hung out with her outside of school! I’m just…” Ginny hated saying it, but, “afraid… that she would think I’m too clingy or weird or—”

“Weird?” Neville snorted, looking away from his book to raise an eyebrow at her. “You’re afraid she’ll think you’re weird?”

“Oh, you know what I mean!” She huffed, lightly pushing him. He chuckled and set his book aside.

“Ginny, you know she adores you, it’s fine. It’s just like asking her to study in the library, just less studying and more romance-y stuff.”

“It’s not romantic, Neville, I told you! I just don’t want to go alone.”

“Uh-huh…” Neville muttered, opening his book back up and giving her a sly smile. 

“Oh, leave me alone!”

————

Luna made her way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. She walked alone, as usual, her bag slung around her shoulder and the latest copy of The Quibbler in hand. Her father had sent it yesterday, and she was, as always, filled with pride. Turning the corner nearest the entrance she spotted Hermione, waiting by the doors and waving to her. 

“Luna!” Hermione called, running up to her. Luna couldn’t quite place the look in her eyes, possibly something akin to… gratitude? “Oh, Luna!” Hermione’s curls were loose around her, quivering slightly in her excitement. “Was it your idea?”

“Pardon?” 

“Your idea! Was it your idea to help Harry?”

It took her a moment for the question to sink in, and when she understood she let out a soft “Ahh, yes. Did he tell you?”

Without answering, Hermione hugged her. Luna’s face was buried in her hair, smelling of ginger soap and rosewater. 

“Thank you,” Hermione whispered. “Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. I haven’t seen Harry this happy since the morning of the Quidditch World Cup.” She loosened her grip and leaned back to look at Luna. “With both you and Cho now, I haven’t seen Harry’s happiness quaver once. He told me that he feels,” she swallowed and gave Luna a watery smile. “…He feels almost whole.” 

Luna felt the tiniest bit of what he meant. Whenever she had celebrated holidays with her mother, she had always felt this connection, this feeling of belonging. There was no doubt in her mind that Hermione knew the feeling as well. They both shared soft smiles and Hermione rubbed Luna’s shoulder with her thumb before letting go. They both headed to the Great Hall in a comfortable silence.

 

Ginny seemed on edge during their entire Transfiguration lesson. Professor McGonagall kept eyeing her, but didn’t acknowledge it any further. Luna didn’t want to push; if she wanted her to know she would tell her. 

Apparently, she did want her to know.

As they walked to lunch, Ginny spoke up.

“Hey, are you going to Hogsmeade on Wednesday?” 

“Yes, I was planning on buying a Valentine’s Day gift for Dad. Are you?”

“Yeah, yeah… I was, uh, wondering if…” She trailed off, adjusting her bag on her shoulder. “I was wondering if you wanted to go with me. To Hogsmeade. Together.”

Luna looked up at Ginny, taking in the pinkness that stretched from her cheeks to her ears and how she was holding her breath. A warm feeling rushed through Luna’s chest and up to her face, and she smiled widely. 

“Of course, I’d love to come with you.” 

Ginny let out the breath she’d been holding and grinned at her. 

“Great! Yes, okay, uh… So we can meet up by the entrance then?” 

“Sure.” 

Ginny let out another breath and waved Luna goodbye as she headed to the Gryffindor table, a spring in her step. Luna giggled to herself and watched as Ginny said something excitedly to Neville, who laughed, earning him a punch in the shoulder.

————

Luna was magical. Well, that could be said for all of them, but she was in a different sense. It was bloody cold out, far below freezing, and as low as temperatures always get during winter, Ginny was still not used to it yet. Despite this, Luna was fine. She wasn’t shivering at all, a smile gracing her lips, her cheeks and the tip of her nose tinged pink the slightest bit. Maybe it was one of those odd necklaces she was wearing; maybe it kept some sort of invisible ice creature from blowing the cold in her face. Whatever it was, Ginny didn’t have it. Her teeth were chattering and she could barely feel her fingers. 

“Ginny, are you alright?” Luna asked.

“Peachy.” Ginny stuttered, bringing her gloved fingers to her mouth to breathe on. Her breath came out in puffs of white and didn’t do much to help.

“Here,” Luna reached up to Ginny’s hands and tugged them down, rubbing her hands over them softly. “Let’s go inside somewhere, perhaps Honeydukes?” 

Ginny’s cheeks heated up and her teeth stopped chattering long enough for her to mumble a quiet “sure” before being led towards the softly orange lit candy shop. 

Honeydukes was the same as always. Students packed the shop, tasting new candies and old candies, laughing when their friends eat a gross one or when the magical side effects took over. Luna turned around, holding out a sample of Sugared Butterfly Wings to Ginny. She slipped one glove off and took it gingerly between her pointer finger and thumb, careful not to break it.

“On the count of three, we both eat.” Luna said. “One, two… Three!” They both popped the wings into their mouths and Luna closed her eyes and smiled sweetly, making a satisfied hum. Ginny felt warmth coarse through her as the sweet melted on her tongue, seeping in through her thick coat. She smiled as well, chuckling as Luna opened her eyes and nodded, asking, “Did you like it?”

“Loved it.”

“Let’s try another.” Luna shuffled over to a shelf a few feet away, grabbing two small pieces of Chocoballs from the ‘Try Me’ plate and handing one to Ginny. “One,” she put it in front of her mouth, giving Ginny an excited look. “Two… Three!” She popped it in her mouth and gave another wide smile. Ginny laughed and ate her piece, chewing through the chocolate, strawberry mousse, and clotted cream. Luna laughed when they finished and stated that she’d need to buy a can of Sugared Butterfly Wings for her dad.

Honeydukes was the same as always, and Ginny had eaten all of these sweets before. But somehow, with Luna, it seemed all new again.

 

“Still cold?”

“How could you guess?” Ginny mumbled sarcastically, her shoulders hunched and hands shoved as far in her pockets as they could go. 

Luna laughed and linked her arm with Ginny’s, using her other hand to rub some warmth back into her arm. “Why don’t we get some hot butterbeer? It’s always been my favourite drink, but I’ve never quite figured out how to make it perfectly.” A slightly puzzled expression flitted across her features before she lead Ginny to the Three Broomsticks.

It was rather busy as usual, finding seats was always the most difficult part. Ginny scanned for a good empty table that the two of them could share alone, but they were all taken by fellow students and professors.

“Oh!” Luna tapped Ginny’s arm and pointed to their left. Alone at a booth sat Harry and Cho opposite each other, who were both waving them over. “Shall we say hello?”

Ginny’s voice was caught in her throat for a moment before replying, “Yeah, sure,” and heading over.

“Do you two want to sit with us?” Cho asked, gesturing to the lack of available tables. She smiled at Ginny, and rather than feeling venom, she felt warmth. 

“You okay with that, Luna?”

“Of course!” Luna smiled cheerfully and sat down next to Cho, greeting her. Ginny took the seat next to Harry.

“How’s your date going so far? You know, before we crashed it.” Ginny asked, a hint of mirth in her voice.

“Pretty good. Chilly, but good.” He chuckled and they both looked over at Luna and Cho, who were discussing something avidly. “How about you and Luna?”

Ginny felt her cheeks heat up the tiniest bit and blamed it on the amount of people and body heat within the building. 

“Great, we bought some candy to send to her dad and I bought myself a scarf from Gladrags. It’s too cold to be scarf-less.” 

“You chose a great colour.” Harry mused, reaching out and flicking the end of her scarf up to hit her face. 

This felt… normal. This felt comfortable. This was something Ginny could get used to, something she was rather eager to do again. In their laughter, she felt no tinge of jealousy, but rather a bubbling warmth that told her,

‘I’m happy.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little fun fact, I've done a bit of research for this! All the places (like Gladrags Wizardwear), sweets, plants, and creatures mentioned are all from the books (I also look up what they are so they make sense with how they're used in the story). The dates are also correct too! Order of the Phoenix took place in 1996, and Valentine's Day fell on a Wednesday that year. The next chapter will also have another 1996 date for Lunar New Year! It's just small details really and I'm sure not many people will notice it but I just thought I'd share.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New celebrations and new (almost) relationships.

Luna had a spring in her step, making her way to the Gryffindor table. 

“Good morning, everyone!” 

Ginny and Hermione looked up and smiled, and Harry shoved a dozing Ron awake to greet her back.

“I hope all of you are cleaning your dorms.” 

Harry quirked an eyebrow and turned to look at Hermione, who had the same puzzled look before asking, “Why?”

“It is Lunar New Year on the nineteenth, of course!” She chirped, a large smiled spreading across her face. “You should always clean your house, or in this case dorm rooms, a week prior. I would also tell you to wear red, but you’ve already got that down.” 

“What about you?” Ginny asked, gesturing to Luna’s blue robes. 

“I have this,” She rolled up her sleeve to show a red woven bracelet. “Well, I’ll go have breakfast now, don’t forget to clean.” Ginny watched her walk over to Neville who was chatting with Seamus and Dean and tell them the same news.

“Well, I’m excited.” Ron mused, reaching out to grab a piece of toast. “Gives me something to look forward to other than the four essays we have.”

“Four?” Ginny grimaced. “Brutal.”

“Oh well, I’ll just copy Hermione, right?”

“No, you will not.” Hermione huffed, turning back to her porridge. Ron shrugged and reached for some jam. 

“I’ve never celebrated Lunar New Year.” Harry mumbled. “It seems fun. What exactly is it?”

“It’s exactly what it sounds like. It’s the new year of the lunar calendar, so following the moon rather than the sun. You never celebrated it?” Ginny gave a slightly puzzled expression, it wasn’t an unheard of celebration. 

“The Dursley’s weren’t big on celebrations from other cultures.”

“Oh.” She was taken aback, realising it was a pretty obvious answer. “Well, at least you know now, right?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

————

The common room was warm and toasty, beckoning Ginny to fall asleep. Such mundane homework like Herbology theory made her brain foggy and her head lolled forward before snapping back up again. It was only just past seven o’clock, she usually went to bed at ten.

“Maybe you should head up,” Hermione said softly, poking at Ginny’s shoulder. 

“No, no, I have to finish this homework…” 

“Well you’re certainly not getting anywhere being as tired as you are.”

She had a point, but Ginny still opened her mouth to argue anyway. Before she could say anything, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Oh! Hey, Dean.”

“Hey can I talk to you for a sec?” Dean’s eyes flitted towards Hermione and back down to Ginny. He pointed behind him and added, “Over there?”

“Uh, yeah sure.” Ginny stood up and followed Dean, shooting Hermione a glance over her shoulder. Hermione just shrugged.

“So uh, I’ve been uh…” Dean sputtered a bit, taking a second to think. “I just wanted to say, er, I mean ask you-” He cut himself off and closed his eyes, then opened them again with a calmer expression. “I like you. A lot.”

The fogginess of sleep was gone, and Ginny was wide awake. 

“…Come again?”

Dean let out a shaky laugh and swallowed. “I like you a lot, Ginny. And more than a friend. I wanted to know if… you’d be okay with…. being my girlfriend?”

Ginny stood still for a moment taking it in.

“Um…”

“It’s- it’s okay if you say no, I just…” Dean scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

“I’m… I’m sorry Dean I… You’re a really great friend but I’m kind of-” She was about to say ‘not ready for a relationship’, but stopped herself. “…I just don’t feel the same.”

Dean blinked a few times then let out a deep breath. “I figured you’d say that. It’s alright, I just hope I didn’t make it weird between us.”

“Of course not, it’s fine, Dean.” Ginny quickly reassured him. An awkward silence fell over them, before Dean said that he should be heading to bed and turned to go upstairs to his dorm room.

“Did what I think happen actually happen?” Hermione asked as Ginny sat back down next to her.

“Yeah, yeah it did.”

“And?”

“I said no, of course.”

“I expected that.”

“Yeah he’s… not really my type, I guess. I mean he's attractive and he’s my friend but…”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.”  


Hermione went back to her homework and Ginny grabbed her quill, but didn’t write anything. She stared at nothing in particular, thinking. Why did she reject Dean? He’s not all that bad, he’s sweet and funny and definitely attractive. She would be lying if she said she hand’t considered the possibility of them being together at least once. But something about it felt… wrong; like getting together with him just wasn’t right. If that’s what her gut was saying, then she made the right choice saying no. But she still wondered why she didn’t say ‘not ready for a relationship’. There was no one else she was considering, was there? No, there couldn’t be-

“Hey,” Hermione snapped her fingers in front of Ginny’s face.

“Huh?”

“I don’t know if you’re spacing out because of sleepiness or what just happened, but go to bed. Finishing your homework is a lost cause at this point.”

If Hermione was telling her to not finish her homework, then she must be serious.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah you’re right.” Ginny sighed as she stood up, gathering her things. “I’ll see you tomorrow then; night.”

“Good night.”

————

Ginny sat in the library, already given up on her Herbology make up work. Did her marks really matter at this point? Her O.W.Ls weren’t until next year. What’s a bad Herbology mark gonna do to her? She didn’t even care for Herbology that much. She wouldn’t pursue a career in it, anyway.

Hushed voices became louder until Ginny was aware that they were behind her. She turned to see Luna and Cho walking over, discussing something animatedly. 

“Hello, Ginny.” Cho said softly, careful not to alert Madam Pince. 

“Hey Cho, hey Luna.” Ginny greeted as they sat down with her. 

“We brought you something!” Luna whispered with a smile on her face. She reached into her bag to pull out a small cardboard box the size of her hand. “I don’t know if you’ll like the taste, but we thought you might fancy a sweet one.”

Ginny took the box and carefully opened it, not really sure what Luna was talking about. A little round treat sat inside the box, a rat painted on it in red food colouring. The rat scampered around the treat, sniffing the other designs and scratching at its ear.

“It’s a mooncake! This year is the year of the rat.” Cho grinned, clasping her hands together. 

“I made you a Taiwanese-style one with taro paste in the middle, but I left out the salted duck egg yolk, I’m not sure how you’d like that.”

Ginny wasn’t sure how she would’ve liked that, either. 

“Thank you so much... Should I eat it now?”

“Sure, if you want.” Cho looked around before leaning in towards Ginny. “I can’t see Madam Pince either, so you should be safe to try it.”

Ginny nodded and broke off a piece, the rat scurrying to the other side of the cake. A scentless purple coloured paste filled the inside. She popped it in her mouth and chewed; the cake was a bit dry, but the paste was very sweet- an odd taste she wasn’t quite used to, but definitely an enjoyable one.

“This is really good, actually.” Ginny mumbled, trying not to spit out crumbs. “I might need some water though.”

“Yeah, the cake can be a bit dry.” Luna agreed.

“But thanks though, this is really thoughtful of you both.”

“Our pleasure!” Luna perked up, her cheeks a soft rosey colour. “We made some more for the others as well.”

“How did you make these?”

“We went to the kitchens and asked the house elves if we could pop in for a bit. They’re quite nice, actually.” Cho explained.

“You should join Hermione’s house elf thing, then.”

“Oh, I have actually.” Cho grabbed her bag and showed the pin stuck to the front. “Seems like a good cause.”

Ginny grinned and ate a bit more of the mooncake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I haven't updated in so long!! School just got really busy and stressful. However I've planned out the rest of the chapters so I shouldn't take too long to write them! I didn't write as much as I intended with this chapter, but I wanted to get it out as soon as possible because I've been procrastinating WAY too long. I also just realised I skipped over Luna's birthday (Feb. 13th) so please ignore that ^^;;


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ginny's not sick, but love and sickness can have similar side effects.

Ginny’s stomach churned. She debated going to the hospital wing— maybe she could use it as an excuse to get out of Potions and Astronomy the next day. It was only a churning though, no pain, not quite nausea; she didn’t think she could act convincingly enough in front of Madam Pomfrey anyway.

She groaned and shut her textbook, tossing it next to where she sat on the floor. Neville, slipping a book off of the library shelf, looked down at her, concerned. 

“You okay?”

“No.” She simply replied, leaning back against the shelf and rubbing her stomach. “My stomach feels weird and I don’t know why.”

“Are you sick?” He turned back to the shelf, scanning the titles of each spine.

“No. I dunno what’s going on.”

“Well let’s see, there’s three main reasons you could have a stomach ache.”

Ginny rolled her eyes but said nothing.

“Sickness, but you’re not sick…. Or are you?”

“I’m not.”

“Just checking,” Neville chuckled. “There’s hunger, have you eaten lunch?”

“Twice.”

“Tw— okay.” Neville gawked before remembering it was Ginny he was talking to. “Well then, the only thing left is emotion. Are you nervous? Scared?”

“Um… no? I don’t think so.” Ginny scrunched up her nose and gave Neville a look of ‘is this necessary?’.

“What about positive things? Like love?”

“W-what?” She snapped, only realising she answered too quickly too late.

“Oh my god Ginny,” Neville gave a small laugh, grabbing two books off the shelf and plopping down onto the floor next to her, “You’re in love!” 

“No— shh! No I’m not!” Ginny whispered. 

“Your ears say otherwise, they always turn red when you’re lying.” He chuckled, reaching out and poking her ears. She smacked his hand away and sniffed angrily, causing him to chuckle more.

“I’m not in love, Neville. My stomach just feels weird. How you came to that ridiculous conclusion is beyond me—”

“Whatever you say, Gin.” He shrugged, opening one of the books. “Also you hang out way too much with Hermione, you’re starting to speak like her—”

“Oh geez!” Ginny huffed and grabbed her textbook, opening it with a tad too much force. Why was she even angry? She wasn’t in love, so there’s no reason for her to be mad. Neville was just being silly, teasing her, nothing serious… 

_“…when added to the concoction, it will turn a colour often described as, ‘silver locks of moonlight’, hence the potion’s name, ‘Luna Capillus’.”_

Ginny reread that sentence a few times, before it struck her. She was dizzy, her head swirling and her stomach churning. It was almost as if… _oh—_

_“—shit.”_

Neville looked over, surprised, as Ginny mumbled a few things under her breath and scrambled to her feet. She stuffed her textbook in her bag, mumbling a quick, “Gotta go!”, before rushing out of the library. 

Three in the afternoon on a Saturday, the only place other than the library she would be is her dorm room, right? Ginny ran up the stairs two at a time, breathlessly mumbling the password and tripping through the portrait hole. She hauled herself another flight of stairs up to their dorms, counting the doors until she found the right one. She knocked once then opened the door without waiting for a reply. 

Hermione sat on her bed, jumping in surprise. 

“Ginny—!” 

Ginny stumbled in, fishing her Potions textbook out of her bag and flipping to the page she had dogeared. 

“Look!” She thrust the book in front of Hermione’s face. Hermione gingerly took the book, reading the title and scrunching her eyebrows together in confusion. 

“Dream potions?”

“No— I mean yes, but no, the name!” 

Hermione's eyes flitted to the top of the page. _“Luna Capillus?”_

“Yes!” 

“….And?”

Ginny hadn’t thought this far ahead. Her first thought is always _‘ask Hermione’_ but in this case, what exactly would she say? _‘Hermione my stomach has been feeling funny and the answer is in my totally unrelated potions textbook’?_

She sat down at the foot of the bed, taking a minute to gather her thoughts. 

“I think… I think I realised something. And I don’t really know what to do about it.”

“…About… dream potions?”

“No! It’s…” Thinking it is one thing, but saying it out loud makes it real. 

Hermione was giving her a look of confusion mixed with… pity? _‘Oh dear lord she thinks I’m losing it.’_

“IthinkI’minlovewithLuna.” She blurted.

Hermione’s eyebrows knit together slightly and she asked, “Excuse me?”

“A-ah…” Ginny took a deep breath and slowly, “I think… I’m in… _love_ … with Luna.”

Hermione blinked a few times before reaching out and smacking her shoulder, saying, “Of course you are, dear lord you had me worried.” 

It was Ginny’s turn to blink a few times and ask, “Wait, what?”

“It’s been so, and I mean so, obvious. Haven’t you noticed?”

Ginny shook her head and Hermione rolled her eyes mumbling something that sounded like _'must be a Weasley trait'_.

“Well, now that you’ve figured it out, what are you going to do?”

“I… haven’t exactly thought about that yet. I mean, I’ve only realised this for about five minutes now.”

“That’s true,” Hermione moved some pieces of parchment to the side to scoot closer to Ginny. “Why don’t you just… tell her?”

“What? No!” Ginny gasped, shocking even herself at the outburst. “I can’t do that. You don’t just ‘tell them’! That’s like, asking to be rejected!”

Hermione mulled this over for a moment before pulling a face. “Ginny, I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what you do. And plus, it’s _Luna._ Luna! You’re best friend, who adores you more than she adores the stars. I would know, she’s told me.”

“I can’t— wait, she said that?”

“I told you she talks about you a lot.”

Ginny fell silent for a few seconds before leaning her head on Hermione’s shoulder.

“I dunno. I’ve never actually asked anyone out before. What exactly am I supposed to say? What’s the right way to do it?”

“Well… I’m not really sure either. Viktor asked me so… I mean I said yes but, I don’t think there’s really a ‘right way’. Your just have to go for it and hope for the best.”

“…Do you think she’ll say yes?”

Hermione was quiet.

“Just go for it, Ginny.”

 

———

 

Ginny sat in the sunken couch in front of the common room fire place, staring into the flames. She watched as they licked the bricks around them, but her thoughts wandered elsewhere. How would she tell Luna? How could she just… _ask?_ She felt like something else was needed, confessing your feelings couldn’t be that simple. There had to be something more.

“Hey, Gin, you alright?” Ron sat down, sinking into the cushions next to Ginny. “You seem really down.”

“I’m fine.” She simply replied, continuing to stare at the flames. After a few moments of silence she looked to her side, seeing Ron’s expression. He was genuinely worried. “Oh… I’m seriously fine, Ron. Don’t worry,” She let out a small chuckle. “Just thinking a bit.”

“…Ok.” Ron didn’t seem to buy it, but he let her be. She turned back to the flames as he leaned back and sunk another few inches into the cushions, turning to the fire as well. 

Ginny’s anxious thoughts were eased slightly with her brother next to her. He may not say much to comfort her, but he’s always there, physically. Whether it’s ruffling her hair or just sitting with her quietly, he really did care. She appreciated that.

She debated, for a second, telling Ron about her predicament. And after that second was over, she realised that was the exact opposite of what she needed. Ron was always there to comfort her, but if she’s being honest, his advice was pretty shit. 

“I think I’m gonna head to bed.” Ginny sighed, standing up and glancing at Ron. 

He nodded and smiled, “Good night, Gin.”

Ginny smiled to herself while walking up the stairs; Even if the issue of her heart was still present, she still felt the tiniest bit better. 

 

———

She couldn’t take it anymore. She had to tell her. Only a day into this new discovered crush and she’s already giving in? Hermione’s words of _‘It’s been so, I mean so obvious’_ flitted through her mind and Ginny then realised that even if it’s only been a day into her being aware of these feelings, she’s had them since the beginning of the year. 

Sunday morning, and quidditch practice was cancelled due to an oncoming snowstorm. That left the entire day for thinking (because who actually does homework) and Ginny wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. She’d much rather be flying, losing herself in the game and thinking only of scoring points. Thinking about quidditch and walking away from the Great Hall, she didn’t even notice someone standing to her right. 

“Ah, good morning, Ginny!” 

Ginny’s stomach filled with a mixture of butterflies and dread. 

“Morning, Luna. Uh…” Luna was staring at the floor, pacing around slowly. “What’s wrong?”

“The nargles seem to have taken the bracelet you gave me, and even though I could wait for them to return it I’d much rather try to find it as soon as I can. I do adore that bracelet a lot.”

Ginny’s heart squeezed and she could feel her ears turning red. “I’ll help you look.” Luna gave her a warm smile in return before reaching out and gently tugging her wrist. 

“Let’s look over here, I’ve been searching this hallway for twenty minutes now.” 

Words failed her, and all Ginny could do was nod as she was lead down the hallway. They stopped near a staircase by an open window. It was cold, but Ginny could swear her cheeks were heating up enough to warm the both of them. 

“I’m not sure if it would be here, I passed this area earlier…” Luna let go of her wrist and leaned against the windowsill, sticking her head outside. The wind was picking up and her hair was flying about, the first drops of snow before the storm melting on her skin.

“I have to tell you something,” Ginny blurted, wrapping her arms around herself to keep warm. What was she doing? Shouldn’t she have planned this out more? 

Luna turned to look at her with a curious expression. “Anything.” She nodded.

She couldn’t back out of it now. She could make something up, but would that be believable? Could she just run away? Wouldn’t that make Luna think she didn’t like her? She’s stalling too long—

“I love you.”

The pounding in her ears made it hard to hear herself, and for a moment she was convinced she hadn’t actually said anything at all. Luna was still, expressionless, and Ginny’s head was spinning. One more second of this and she might pass out—

Luna was smiling. Suddenly she was right in front of her, their fingers woven together, her usual misty smile replaced with one of energy and light that only the brightest stars could hold— and she was crying. 

Tears streamed down her face but her expression remained jubilant. And despite all this, her voice remained soft and calm when she replied,

“I love you, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like all of my chapter notes are just me apologising for updating so late..........  
> One more chapter to go! Maybe I'll make a sequel to this, not sure though. What do you think?


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are few places that horrible things cannot touch. This is one of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is REALLY short and I just want to apologise in advance ^^;;

Ron entered the Great Hall, the bright sunlight of the first truly sunny day all winter warming his skin… and attacking his eyes. He carefully made his way to the Gryffindor table, glad to be sitting down out of the direct sunlight, to let his eyes rest— only to have another sight attack his eyes. Both Harry and Ginny sat in front of him, looking into the distance behind him, their expressions soft yet focused. This look was expected by now of Harry— Wait, _wh—?!_

“—AT” Ron squawked, finishing his thought out loud. Seamus’s head snapped up slightly at his outburst, before warranting it not important enough to distract him from finishing his homework due next period. Ron furiously shook his hand in front of Ginny’s face. She jolted in surprise, her face immediately twisting into an annoyed expression. 

“What?” She snapped, picking up her fork and stabbing her half eaten sausage. 

“Harry,” He turned to his friend, who jolted in a similar manner as Ginny, “What have you done to her?”

“What? What’ve I done…?” Confusion spread across Harry’s features as his head whipped between Ron and Ginny and back again. 

“You’ve infected her!” Ron jabbed an accusing finger at him. “You’ve infected her with your bloody googly eyes!”

Harry and Ginny were silent for a moment, not sure whether to groan or laugh. What came out of their mouths was a mixture of sorts.

“Googly eyes for whom? I mean—“ Harry paused, his eyes locking on someone staring at him, or rather someone next to him. Luna sat with her chin rested in the palm of her left hand, her other slowly stirring a bowl of porridge as she stared at Ginny… in a similar manner to the way Cho looks at him. He whipped around to Ginny, “Wait, hold on _wait_ —“

 _“What?!”_ She hissed, eyeing both of them. “Is it really shocking news?!”

“Um, yeah, I mean I thought, being your brother and all, _I’d_ at least be told—“

 _“You?”_ Ginny snorted, laughing as she pointed her sausage tipped fork at him. “You’re one of my _last_ options, because Merlin knows you’d blab.” 

They bickered a bit more before Hermione sat down, the new book in her arms telling them she had visited the library before going to breakfast. 

“What’s this ruckus about?” She breathed, winded by rushing to the Great Hall with another heavy book to add to her overflowing bag. 

“Ron’s got his knickers in a twist because Ginny didn’t tell anyone that—“

Ginny slapped her hand over Harry’s mouth and he let out a muffled yelp in surprise. Hermione raised an eyebrow. Why was Ginny worried? Hermione out of all people would have been the first she’d tell anyways. 

“I, uh…” She let go of Harry, who straightened his lopsided glasses, and quickly glanced at the Ravenclaw table. Hermione followed her gaze, her eyes flicking in between Ginny and the Ravenclaw table for a moment until— 

“Oh! _Oh!_ Oh, you took my advice!” She squealed in delight, clapping twice before grasping her hands together and grinning from ear to ear. “Oh, I’m so happy for you!”

“Wait, _Hermione knew?”_ Ron was partially joking earlier, but now he was actually shocked. 

“Of course,” Hermione snapped without missing a beat. “We _are_ friends, you know.”

Ginny chuckled quietly to herself, watching Ron and Hermione bicker. Ron glanced at her, and gave her the tiniest, softest smile, and Ginny knew that it was all okay.

———

Cho kissed Harry’s cheek and a blush spread over his face quicker than the latest broom model. Cho giggled at this and Harry gave her a sheepish smile, taking her hand in his as a response. These were some of Ginny’s favourite moments, just after a D.A. meeting, with people filing out and a few lingering to talk, the atmosphere light and somewhat sleepy. These were always the best, the few minutes a day where everyone suddenly feels the weight lifted off their shoulders and they can just be teenagers for a bit before they had to sneak back to their dorms. Almost everyone was gone, Cho and Harry waving a ‘good night’ over their shoulders and they snuck out, the last few people drifting out after them. Ginny felt fingers gently curl around her’s and she turned to smile at a sleepy Luna. 

“Let’s stay. I don’t want to go just yet.” She cooed. Ginny nodded, at a loss for words with Luna’s expression so gentle and so close to her. She blinked, and they were outside. Maybe not outside, but being alone in the Room of Requirement had the room shifting to their needs, and apparently it thought that they needed to be outside right then. The grass tickled her ankles through her socks and she sunk down, pulling Luna with her so that they were lying on the ground. The ceiling was like the Great Hall, transparent, the stars above them twinkling.

“Happy,” Luna whispered, staring at the ‘sky’. “Everyone is so happy, even with horrible things happening around us.” Ginny hummed a response. After a few moments of silence, Luna began to hum a small tune. Ginny closed her eyes, listening to her gentle voice, feeling the gentle grasp of her fingers around her own. If there was anything horrible happening, it certainly did not follow them here. 

The serenity of the room was new, since the only times they had been there was when it needed to be a practice room, filled with dummies and dueling spaces. Ginny slowly dragged her free hand over the grass and mentally thanked the room for being so nice to them. 

She opened her eyes and turned to look at Luna, only to find her already staring at her. Her eyes were half lidded, her lips turned the slightest in her trademark misty smile, and her cheeks were dusted pink. Ginny thanked whoever was watching over them for this moment; They stared at each other, the stars above forgotten, because Ginny swore she could see more in Luna’s eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS marks the end of this fic! BUT that won't be the end of this plotline, I'll probably make a sequel for this. I don't really want to just keep adding chapters to this, since I feel like, especially with the title of this fic, this would be a good place to stop (as well as I didn't intend for this to be a long fic anyways). A separate sequel would be a better idea to keep this going. 
> 
> Thank you so much for the support!! I haven't replied to all the comments but I want everyone to know I've read every comment multiple times and it always makes me feel so much better!! I hope you enjoyed this fic <3


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